I am looking for a good suppliment to pick up that gives some good results. I currently weight train along with my Kali and I am taking the following Suppliments (Mens multi Vitamin, Glucosamine Sulfate, Natural Fish Oil, Extra 500mg of Vitamin C, 500 Mg of L-arginine, 25 extra MG of Zinc, Dhea every now and then, Protein Shake and added to the protein shake Liquid Aminos) I can tell that my power has picked up alot and I am able to either just slam ppl to the ground and go from a Jujitsu guard where they have their legs around me..To where I can just shoot up with ease to a squat on the flats of my feet and lift a person from the ground and just slam them on their back..But I am looking for any other advice with things to try or to stop using...And along with any other work out advice..I do alot of explosive work outs..Alot of Fast and hard...And then I will take a day and just max out..Like heavy dead lifts and I noticed that the dead lifts are really helping me pick someone up from that Guard and slam them...But I want to get stronger...So anyone has any good suppliments to take along with any power workouts?

Not into doing the steriods and I saw that show on TLC...The guy who's arms exploded..Blah..That guy is a freak and has some serious self hate going on..Not my thing ...]

200 supps a DAY?! That can't be good for your kidneys..I know I take alot of them but most of mine are to boost the recovery rate of training and to advance my health..I don't take anything that would cause a steriod like effect..

Most of them like I said AID in the recovery rate and help boost my already GODLIKE Immune system ahahah

Though I have heard that combining several Supps can lead to a home made steroid and I know when I take DHEA I do almost godlike things

Jones Admits to Doping and Enters Guilty Plea NY Times By LYNN ZINSER and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTPublished: October 6, 2007WHITE PLAINS, Oct. 5 — On the day she admitted publicly to using performance-enhancing drugs, the former Olympic track champion Marion Jones wept Friday as she stood on the steps of the United States District Courthouse here and apologized for her mistakes.

"You have the right to be angry with me," Marion Jones told supporters in an emotional speech on the steps of the courthouse.

Inside the courtroom, she did not waver when confessing in a strong voice to Judge Kenneth M. Karras that she had made false statements in two separate government investigations: the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative case and a check-fraud case based out of the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

Jones repeatedly answered the judge’s questions by saying, “Yes, I understand,” as he explained the ramifications of her guilty plea. The prosecutors have recommended a sentence of no more than six months, according to the agreement. The maximum sentence is five years.

She will be sentenced in January. The International Olympic Committee has indicated it will not wait until then to move to strip her of the five medals she won — including three gold — at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. With her performance that summer, she became the first woman to win five medals in track and field at the same Olympics.

Jones, 31, was released after yielding her United States passport and promising to yield her passport from Belize, her mother’s native country. But in her emotional speech outside the courthouse, she made it clear that she believed she had lost far more.

“It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust,” she said, referring to her fans and supporters. She added: “You have the right to be angry with me. I have let them down, I have let my country down and I have let myself down.”

She also announced she was retiring from track and field. Jones recently married the sprinter Obadele Thompson from Barbados and now goes by the name Jones-Thompson. She has two children, one with Thompson and the other from a relationship with the former sprinter Tim Montgomery.

Her guilty plea, as well as her admission in court that she used performance-enhancing drugs provided by her former coach Trevor Graham, were big developments in the government’s case against Graham for making false statements to federal agents. Graham’s trial is scheduled to begin in November.

Jones said in court that from September 2000 until July 2001, Graham gave her a substance he told her was flaxseed oil. But after she stopped training with him in 2001, she said she realized it had been a performance-enhancing drug. By the time she was interviewed in the Balco investigation in November 2003, Jones said, she knew it was the designer steroid THG, known as the clear. But she had denied recognizing the substance and denied taking it in that Balco interview.

“Both were lies,” Jones said.

She similarly admitted lying to federal officials investigating the bank-fraud case in two separate interviews in August and September 2006. At that time, she denied receiving a fraudulent $25,000 check that she had endorsed and denied knowing about the involvement of Montgomery.

Perhaps the biggest consequences of Jones’s sworn statements in court will be the damage they do to Graham, who has repeatedly denied providing his athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.

If Jones is called to testify at Graham’s trial, she can no longer invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because she waived that with her guilty plea.

“The federal government will vigorously prosecute individuals who provide false statements to its agents,” Scott N. Schools, the interim United States attorney in the Northern District of California, said in a written statement. “Individuals who lie to federal agents interfere with the government’s ability to investigate criminal conduct and undermine the efficiency of government investigations.”

Telephone messages left for Graham’s lawyers were not returned.

The twist to Jones’s downfall is that it was triggered by her involvement in the bank-fraud scheme. E. Danya Perry, an assistant United States attorney, told the judge there was ample evidence, including Jones’s signature on the $25,000 check and the testimony of other defendants in the case, many of whom have already pleaded guilty.

Jones admitted to lying to investigators from the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the United States attorney’s office in interviews on Aug. 2 and Sept. 5, 2006.

The strength of the government’s evidence in that case was used to persuade Jones to plead guilty to the false statements to the Balco investigators.

Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, said he applauded the cooperation between the government lawyers in the two cases.

“It’s bittersweet,” Tygart said. “Any time you watch a potential American hero admit to cheating us, sports fans, people that watch the Olympic Games, it’s bittersweet. Clean athletes, who do it right, who play by the rules and honorably, have a sense of vindication today.”

Last year, Jones fell under renewed drug-testing scrutiny when she tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO. The test was not pursued, however, when the B sample was negative for the drug and did not corroborate the A sample. After that, Jones defiantly denied ever having used drugs.

Tygart said Usada, which has had a case open against Jones for several years, would continue investigating and perhaps seek to take away Jones’s Olympic medals.

The Olympic sports community reacted with firm condemnation of Jones.

“Her admission is long overdue and underscores the shame and dishonor that are inherent with cheating,” the United States Olympic Committee chairman, Peter Ueberroth, said in a statement. “As further recognition of her complicity in this matter, Ms. Jones should immediately step forward and return the Olympic medals she won while competing in violation of the rules.”

The more immediate issue, though, was Jones’s role in the continuation of the Balco case, which had seen few developments in recent months.

The case has resulted in the guilty pleas of six others: Balco’s founder and president, Victor Conte Jr.; James Valente, the former vice president of Balco; Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’s former trainer; Remi Korchemny, a track coach; Patrick Arnold, a chemist; and Troy Ellerman, a defense lawyer.

The cyclist Tammy Thomas, who also denied using steroids, was charged last year with three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. No trial date has been set.

Bonds, baseball’s career home run leader, remains under investigation on the suspicion that he lied to a federal grand jury about his use of steroids. Anderson is in jail for contempt of court for refusing to testify about Bonds.

I need some of that Flax oil Crafty, Cold War Scout, and I have a Senior Studs Calendar shoot.

By the way,.. I've kind of known these guys, Conte and Patrick Arnold for years from the supplement world. Victor Conte makes ZMA and actually has some nice stuff on the market (legal). There is no magic however. Train hard, eat correctly, yadda, yadda.

2 Players Suspended for Acquistion of Hormones MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTPublished: December 7, 2007NY TimesMajor League Baseball yesterday suspended two players linked to the acquisition of performance-enhancing drugs, perhaps creating a template for players who could be named by George J. Mitchell when he issues his report on the use of banned substances in baseball, likely by the end of next week.

The players — Jay Gibbons of the Orioles and José Guillén, who played for the Mariners last season and is now with the Royals — will serve 15-day suspensions at the start of the 2008 season.

Neither Gibbons nor Guillén has tested positive for a banned substance. But each was linked, through documentary evidence, to having received human growth hormone and steroids.

The commissioner’s office appears to be signaling how it will deal with players who may be named in Mitchell’s report. The 15-day suspensions to Gibbons and Guillén stand in sharp contrast to the 50-day suspensions players now receive for failing a drug test for the first time.

Mitchell, who was appointed to conduct his investigation by Commissioner Bud Selig in March 2006, has documentary evidence, but no test results, that ties dozens of players to purchases of drugs from 1995 through 2005.

Mitchell received information from Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse attendant who pleaded guilty in April to federal charges of steroid distribution.

Several lawyers familiar with the investigation said yesterday that Mitchell, a former United States senator, may issue the report next Thursday.

Mitchell, through an investigation spokesman, declined to comment. A spokesman for Major League Baseball also declined to comment.

Since February, 15 current and former players, including Gibbons and Guillén, have been tied to shipments of performance-enhancing drugs from clinics and pharmacies being investigated by the Albany County district attorney’s office.

The commissioner’s office said that four of those players would not be punished because its internal investigation had concluded that there was not enough evidence to suspend them based on the penalties in place at the time they are suspected of receiving the substances.

The four are Scott Schoeneweis of the Mets, Gary Matthews Jr. of the Angels, Troy Glaus of the Blue Jays and Rick Ankiel of the Cardinals.

Suspending players tied to receiving shipments of banned substances could prove tricky. The penalties for a violation of the drug program have changed four times since 2003, and Major League Baseball feels compelled to punish players by the guidelines in place at the time.

Baseball began suspending players the first time they violated the program in 2005. Anonymous testing for steroids began in 2003. The first time a player violated the program, in 2004, he was not subject to a suspension. In 2005, a player faced a 10-game suspension the first time he violated the program. Before the 2005 season, baseball banned H.G.H., a substance that it, like the N.F.L., does not test for.

Between October 2003 and July 2005, Gibbons received six shipments of H.G.H. and two shipments of steroids, SI.com reported in September.

“I am deeply sorry for the mistakes that I have made,” Gibbons said yesterday in a written statement.

Michael Weiner, the general counsel for the players union, said Gibbons did not plan to appeal his suspension.

Guillén, according to a report in The San Francisco Chronicle, ordered more than $19,000 worth of H.G.H. and steroids from May 2002 to June 2005. Weiner said Guillén would appeal.

By the way,.. I've kind of known these guys, Conte and Patrick Arnold for years from the supplement world. Victor Conte makes ZMA and actually has some nice stuff on the market (legal). There is no magic however. Train hard, eat correctly, yadda, yadda.

Many supplements are fake but work to some extent as they contain an important additive: steroids. The Yohimbe bark extract scandal of the 90's comes to mind. These days, customers are less inclined to buy a plant extract from a far away land when presented with higher tech pharmaceutical extracts, such as human growth hormone, aka HGH. The real stuff costs a few thousand for a month's supply of injections. That doesn't seem to stop purchasers of low cost GH mouth sprays. Most of this stuff is apparently worthless as it is pig growth hormone, if these potions contain any signicifcant amounts at all. So, how do these potions work? Steroids !

I have had some great results with the stuff that I take. I have been Using Protein Shakes, Creatine,Ammino Acids, L- Glutamine and Arginine and Dhea. Amoung the other ones I take Mutli Vitimin, Extra V-C, Zinc, B-12 and joint stuff. I have packed on a impressive amount of muscle mass and strength, then again I also work out 6 days a week 2 times a day and I eat well.

If it works for you, use it. I tried some supplements in the mid 90s and found they were just mentally addictive. Since then, I haven't used anything regularly other than the occasional scoop of protein power. Consider saving some cash and effort if you're willing to research the substances. These supplement companies prey on young men that are unable to understand the technobabble on the packing. For example, most of the fancy protein powders are just baby formula additional flavoring and coloring. However, they're real.

The problems with most of these "supplements " is that the products purchased usually don't contain the advertised amount of the substance. Since they produce dubious effects, it's hard to verify . A little reasearch is easy on the web. Amino acids don't have a long shelf-life. How can you tell if the Arginine you're buying is just out-of-date powder? The same papers that talk about the release of growth hormone by taking Arginine/Orhithine also show curves of how much more is released during proper sleep and with weight-bearing exercise of the larger muscle groups, such as the legs. Glutamine is probably the biggest rip-off,as well as being potentially toxic. Vitamins are difficult to absorb when injested without other combinations of minerals, so you're better off eating real food. The "joint stuff" made the headlines a few months ago in that testing of various popular brands showed they contained much less than the advertised amount, with one brand containing zero condroitin.

My relative Dr. Bertrams Zarins is a renowed orthopedic surgeon in Boston. He has headed up the medical teams of the Bruins, Patriots and Celtics as well as some time on the US Olympic team. My mom asked him about the "joint stuff." He said it probably has no effect, but use it if you believe it helps as it doesn't do any harm.

Probably the only sports supplement, other than protein powder, that works is creatine. I tried it for a month. In one week, your muscles swell up with water but don't get stronger. I noticed zero change in my endurance on a heavy bag. If you read the literature, the small gains were to be had by athletes already at the elite level. The rest of us just get heavier due to water retention, everywhere except in the wallet.

Anyway, your gains have to do with your perserverance and level of effort. The protein powder is a cheap form of protein. If the other expensive supplements really keep you going, use them, as they probably don't do any harm even if they don't do any good. And, I'm pissed that I

One of my close friends is a body builder and had mentioned alot of stuff on the market is crap but mentioned to me that creatine and protein power are probably the only things besides steroids that work. I mean can you really go wrong with a Multi Vitimin? Those can't be bunk....When I took creatine, I could tell it had effects but I felt like I was fat ahahah

I shop at Vitimin world and buy their brand of protein power but now I am curious to know if there is a better brand of power out there

I have never tried powders, but when I mountain bike in the spring and summer I drink a lot of watered down electrolyte drinks. I tried one with extra protein and it had that same result. Nothing like being an hour and a half into a 3 hour ride and feeling your guts start to churn. Now I carry a bagel, a couple packets of soy sauce, and 2 bottles of fluids... usually one all water, and one a 50/50 mixture of water and gatorade. Then its real food for dinner!

Logged

When life gives you lemons make lemonadeWhen life gives you hemlock, do NOT make hemlockade!

Ran across this after my Dr wants to put me on a steroid called andro gel.I cant put a pic up damn it! I found a current pic of Stallone at 62 ripped to the Max He swears about the benefits of HGH. I found it on Ain't it cool news. Sorry wish I could post the pic. I would like to know if any body out ther is on Andro Gel and what their take is on it.

I don't know Crafty. It's legal. It's found in Max Muscle and everyone I work out with has taken it and gets beyond Crazy lasting gains. So I went down to Max Muscle and I bought a bottle of Tren Extreme. They told me how to use it with all my current supplements. I went from 170lbs to 180lbs Solid in 3 Weeks. My old just normal bicep curl was 30lbs each arm and is now 50lbs each arm. I benched pressed 200lbs and now I am at 280lbs plus the bar. Everything I squat, Deadlift, Press and push is almost close to double and my Body looks like a greek god.

I went back down there to ask more info on it and there were cops in there buying the stuff. I asked them their take on the item outside and they said they loved the product.

Now mind you I now eat about 7 to 8 times a day and also eat close to 3500 calories a day, So maybe that also has something to do with it.

I was grappling with someone the other day and the strength gains were unbelievable. It's t the point now where I pick up a weight and in a way get scared, Because it just seems wrong.

19-Norandrosta-4,9 diene-3,17 dione is a progestin similar to trenbolone, nandrolone, methyltrienolone and Methyl-Dien which are also progestins.Claimed by some manufacturers to metabolize into Trenbolone acetate. From my limited nderstanding Trenbolone acetate is the strongest steroid ever made.

I went from 170lbs to 180lbs Solid in 3 Weeks. My old just normal bicep curl was 30lbs each arm and is now 50lbs each arm. I benched pressed 200lbs and now I am at 280lbs plus the bar. Everything I squat, Deadlift, Press and push is almost close to double and my Body looks like a greek god.

So are you're wondering if it is a steroid? or steroid precursor? with those gains.

I went from 170lbs to 180lbs Solid in 3 Weeks. My old just normal bicep curl was 30lbs each arm and is now 50lbs each arm. I benched pressed 200lbs and now I am at 280lbs plus the bar. Everything I squat, Deadlift, Press and push is almost close to double and my Body looks like a greek god.

So are you're wondering if it is a steroid? or steroid precursor? with those gains.

From what that says and from what I have been seeing is that it seems I by mistake am taking a Legal over the counter steroid. This was not my intention when I first got the product. I got the product like anyone who works out/ LIfts weights would get a product. It was from over hearing people/Friends talk about it just like they would creatine, New Protein Shakes and or No explode.

I have tried the Tribex Tribulis (Natural Testosterone Booster) and Novadex (Estrogen Blocker) Combo and it worked for building super lean muscle, Increase Sex Drive and Massive energy but it was pretty normal combo.

From what that says and from what I have been seeing is that it seems I by mistake am taking a Legal over the counter steroid. This was not my intention when I first got the product. I got the product like anyone who works out/ LIfts weights would get a product. It was from over hearing people/Friends talk about it just like they would creatine, New Protein Shakes and or No explode.

I have tried the Tribex Tribulis (Natural Testosterone Booster) and Novadex (Estrogen Blocker) Combo and it worked for building super lean muscle, Increase Sex Drive and Massive energy but it was pretty normal combo.

Can I get kicked out of the Military for this?

IF IN DOUBT, STAY AWAY FROM IT... (Better safe than sorry)

Its not worth the risk. The penalty is the same for steroids (read on):

HMCS Trouble to SN Trouble

To All Hands:

On 7 Jan 2005, one of our shipmates, HMCS Trouble, was found guilty at general court martial for wrongful use of cocaine and a number of related charges.

The sentence adjudged was:

Confinement for a period of nine (9) months Reduction to E-3 Bad Conduct Discharge from the United States NavyA bad situation all the way around. The Command ensured Seaman Trouble received treatment for her drug problems and I am hopeful that she will be able to recover from this significant setback and go on to lead a productive life.

There are many lessons here, the obvious one being the Navy's (and this Command's) Zero Tolerance for illegal drug use.

There is also a lesson about the financial impact this has on a person's life. If you think about the loss of retirement benefits (pay, medical, commissary and exchange, etc.) and factor in the potential impact this has on starting a new career, the results are staggering. Consider the following, which is a rough estimate:

Potential impact on a future career and retirement from that career Increase in life insurance Loss of VA mortgage benefits Educational benefits loss INTANGIBLE LOSSES

Loss of right to vote Loss of right to own or possess a firearm Loss of security clearance Loss of being a retired Chief Petty Officer This entire incident has been devastating for Seaman Trouble. It's been difficult for the Command. It is not something we need to repeat. We all know the policy

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This is straight from the UA Certification NKO course: (& yes I am certified to run UA on you)

Steroids offer different challenges to the UPC in determining if they should be tested for and then in collection, handling, and shipping. But first you need to understand what steroids are and what they can do to the user.

Anabolic steroids are a group of powerful compounds closely related to the male sex hormone testosterone. Developed in the 1930's, steroids are seldom prescribed by physicians today. Current legitimate medical uses are limited to certain kinds of anemia, severe burns, and some types of breast cancer.

Taken in combination with a program of muscle building exercise and diet, steroids may contribute to increases in body weight and muscular strength. Because of these properties, athletes in a variety of sports have used steroids since the 1950's, hoping to enhance performance. Today, increasing numbers of young people seeking to accelerate their physical development are joining them.

Steroid users subject themselves to more than 70 side effects, ranging in severity from acne to liver cancer and including psychological, as well as physical reactions. The liver, the cardiovascular, and reproductive systems are most seriously affected by steroid use. In males, use can cause withered testicles, sterility, and impotence. In females, irreversible masculine traits can develop along with breast reduction and sterility. Psychological effects in both sexes include very aggressive behavior known as 'roid rage' and depression. While some side effects appear quickly, others, such as heart attacks and strokes, may not show up for years.

Steroids are produced in tablet or capsule form for oral ingestion, or as a liquid for intramuscular injection.

Signs of steroid use:

Quick weight and muscle gains (if steroids are being used in conjunction with a weight training program) Behavioral changes, particularly increased aggressiveness and combativeness Jaundice, purple or red spots on the body Swelling of feet or lower legs Trembling Unexplained darkening of the skin Persistent unpleasant breath odor

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If a Command has personnel suspected (without possession) of anabolic steroid use, the following actions should be taken:

Contact Legal and Medical for assistance with a probable cause test Conduct a fitness for duty physical examination by a physician to include the possible use of anabolic steroids. If the physical examination provides the opinion that use of anabolic steroids could exist, the Command should then: Require the individual to provide a urine sample of 60 ML or more. The preferred collection premise is a Consent Test (VO). If the Service member refuses consent and the Command thinks there is sufficient probable cause to suspect anabolic steroid use, a Probable Cause (PO) test may be conducted. As a last option use Command Directed (CO) test premise. Collect the sample using the Specimen Custody Document form (DD Form 2624). Samples should be mailed via overnight express whenever possible. If overnight express is not available use First Class U.S. Mail. Ensure compliance with packaging procedures outlined in OPNAV 5350.4 Series Contact PERS-671 for Authorization Number.

Send sample to UCLA Analytical Lab with the DD 2624 and memo from Commanding Officer or designated authority requesting sample be tested for steroids. Be sure to include PERS-603 Authorization Number (See Appendix ‘I’ of UPC Handbook for example of memo.)

NOTE: Modified to delete Military phone #s and shipping address for such tests.

So, in a nutshell, if one wants to get extra energy and can only get about 6-7 hours of sleep per day, what should he try?I need more energy as my 5:30 AM workouts are starting to suffer...and I have very little energy, if any at all for my 5:30 PM workouts.Because of time constraints each workout is at most 30 min.I am feeling fun down and tired, achy and lacking in the "chi" department, if you get my drift Just because I am run down, feeling run down that is.Any suggestions?I heard of the Tribuls stuff mentioned before...

This is where you claim the benefits of your workouts. If you don't allow for rebuilding, you will just be running yourself down.

My nutrition is excellent and sleep, I get what I can, not because I don't want more, but because my life and work schedule dictate a certain schedule.Maybe I am just feeling the age and wear and tear of the engine ( gonna be 40 and with over 30 years of MA, the mileage is adding up, LOL)

I understand your Schedule. I myself have just ran into a pretty hectic schedule and I am not finding all the time in the world to do everything I want and because of this my Martial Arts training has suffered. Really all I do now is lift serious and have been cracking out some serious heavy weights, Power Lifting, Strong Man stuff and Hardcore conditioning and all I really have time for anymore in the Martial Arts aspects is Practicing on a Heavy bag Grabbing it like it was someone and throwing hard Crosses and upper cuts, Practicing on a dummy bag picking it up and slamming it on the ground, Mounting it and throwing hard punches and ground elbows and I get together with a friend and we do something more along the lines of Street grappling to keep the Grappling in check. Picking someone up on the street and slamming them into the pavement is pretty effective. LOL!

If you are looking for a boost , I have tried the Tribex ( Tribules ) Combo with the Novadex Combo and like I mentioned before. It put me on the map in alot of terms. I am 35 and it helped increase in terms of weight lifting, I would say about 5lbs to everything and in terms of energy, I felt good after 6 hours sleep.

Now because I am lifting more weights an growing, I need more sleep. Anywhere from 8 to 10 hours

I wan also lacking in the Chi department. If you have any questions on anything Supplement related and or how Tribex works give me a private Message. Besides the Current supplement I am on, I have alot of knowledge in that department.

But like anything.You should always speak to a doctor before you try anything.

I just checked with my Command and they know about Tren. They said it was good to go but BARLEY. My Sgt. Told me that Tren was so close to the real thing that it might as well be the real thing but he also said that so many soldiers are using it that as long as I provide Doc's with the info and the bottle before a UA they have probably heard about it.

If anyone is thinking of using Tren there is a right way and a wrong way to use it. And I suggest only buying either the original and the Break away company that made Tren Extreme not the Toyko tren or the knock off trens

I have been sorely tempted by steroids over the years, but ultimately decided to pass.

I saw too many people who followed that path:

a) not spend the substantial $$$ that go with proper medical testing and supervision, andb) find it hard to be motivated by the lesser results that are the reality of mere mortals-- i.e. they found it hard to train when they weren't juicing, and

For me these two points added up to steroids being contrary to my path of being a warrior for all my days.

I have been sorely tempted by steroids over the years, but ultimately decided to pass.

I saw too many people who followed that path:

a) not spend the substantial $$$ that go with proper medical testing and supervision, andb) find it hard to be motivated by the lesser results that are the reality of mere mortals-- i.e. they found it hard to train when they weren't juicing, and

For me these two points added up to steroids being contrary to my path of being a warrior for all my days.

TAC,Crafty Dog

Wow Crafty. I never thought you would have thought about using them. Can I ask why you thought about using them?

The government’s perjury case against Barry Bonds gained vivid detail on Wednesday when more than 200 pages of evidence were unsealed. The pages included documents tying Bonds to four positive tests for steroids, calendars that prosecutors described as doping schedules, and a transcript of a recorded conversation in which Bonds’s former trainer is quoted as saying that he injected Bonds with performance-enhancing drugs.

Three urine samples that were sent for testing in 2000 and 2001 by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative showed the presence of anabolic steroids, according to the documents. A fourth test from a 2003 sample collected by Major League Baseball showed the presence of the designer steroid THG, the fertility drug clomid and a form of testosterone not naturally produced by the body.

When tested under Major League Baseball’s program, that sample came back negative for performance-enhancing drugs. But after the sample was seized in a 2004 raid by federal agents, it was retested by the U.C.L.A. Olympic Analytical Laboratory, with a different and, for Bonds, potentially troublesome result.

Not all of the information provided in the unsealed documents is new. But the documents provide a more complete portrait of the evidence that federal prosecutors have gathered on Bonds since the investigation of Balco began in 2002. Bonds is scheduled to go on trial March 2 in San Francisco on charges that he committed perjury in 2003 when he told the grand jury investigating Balco that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds’s lawyers filed a motion two weeks ago to have much of the evidence in the case excluded, arguing that it could not be authenticated. As part of that motion, the defense lawyers filed the evidence in dispute under seal, not wishing for it to be revealed. But United States District Judge Susan Illston ordered that it be made public and has scheduled a hearing for Thursday about its admissibility.

“While it may seem damning now, the judge may exclude a lot of the evidence and it may never make it before the jury,” said Carl Tobias, a professor of law at the University of Richmond, in assessing the new information about the case. “But with all the attention being given to the case, the judge is going to have to be extra careful that the jury she seats has not been prejudiced by this information.”

Among the most intriguing sections in the unsealed documents is a description of what authorities said was a tape-recorded conversation, made in 2003, between Bonds’s former business manager, Steve Hoskins, and Bonds’s longtime trainer, Greg Anderson. Anderson spent more than a year in prison on contempt-of-court charges for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating Bonds.

According to a summary of the tape and a partial transcript, Anderson told Hoskins that he had injected Bonds with performance-enhancing drugs and that they were not detectable under baseball’s drug-testing program at the time. Anderson also told Hoskins that he had advance notice of when the drug tests would be conducted.

“I’ll know like probably a week in advance, or two weeks in advance,” Anderson is quoted as telling Hoskins in the transcript. According to the documents, Hoskins was recording the conversation, which took place in the Giants’ clubhouse, because Bonds’s father, Bobby, did not believe his son was using steroids.

Hoskins and Bonds were childhood friends who became particularly close after Bonds returned to San Francisco to play for the Giants in 1993. The two had a falling out in 2003 and Hoskins later cooperated with federal authorities, telling them that Bonds flew into “roid rages.” In the partial transcript, Hoskins is quoted as asking Anderson if the drugs being given to Bonds were the same “that Marion Jones and them were using.”

“Yeah, same stuff, the same stuff that worked at the Olympics,” Anderson is quoted as saying.

And, Anderson added for emphasis, Olympians were tested every week. “So that’s why I know it works,” Anderson is quoted as saying. (Jones, an Olympic gold-medal winner, pleaded guilty in 2007 to making false statements about her use of performance-enhancing drugs and received a six-month prison sentence.)

Although the results of the three urine samples that Balco tested in 2000 and 2001 do not have Bonds’s name on them, prosecutors say they can be connected to handwritten notes seized at Balco and Anderson’s home in 2003. Those notes display the names of Bonds and other individuals and numbers that, prosecutors say, correlate to samples that Balco sent for drug testing. Prosecutors contend that the three tests show Bonds tested positive for two steroids — methenolone and nandrolone — in November 2000 and February 2001.

But in their 28-page motion to exclude evidence, Bonds’s lawyers said: “It appears that as to every proffered test result, the government can attempt to link Mr. Bonds to the sample in question only through purported hearsay statement of Anderson.” ===========

In all, five pages of handwritten notes are attributed to Anderson, and in disputing them, the defense states: “The notes are barely comprehensible. Their author(s) are unknown as are the time and purpose of their preparation.”

The defense lawyers said the notes were indicative “of the government’s zeal to convict Mr. Bonds by any means at all.” They also said the doping calendars, which the prosecutors say Anderson created so he could monitor Bonds’s use of drugs, should not be admissible, either.

The fourth positive steroid test cited in the documents does not involve Anderson or his notes. Instead, it stems from the anonymous drug tests that were conducted by Major League Baseball in 2003, the first year of steroid testing on the major league level. There were no penalties for positive results, and not even the players were supposed to know how their tests came out.

Bonds’s urine sample did not produce a positive test under baseball’s guidelines. But in a raid in 2004, authorities seized the samples and test results of Bonds and the nine other players who had testified before the Balco grand jury. Two years later, the U.C.L.A. laboratory that retested Bonds’s sample concluded that it contained the designer steroid THG, known as “the clear”; clomid, an anti-estrogen drug used to stimulate natural testosterone levels; and the presence of testosterone not naturally made by the body.

Baseball did not test for THG in 2003 and did not begin testing for clomid until the 2007 season. Why Bonds did not test positive for testosterone in 2003 is not clear.

When Bonds testified before the Balco grand jury in 2003, he said that he had used the “clear” and the “cream,” a lotion with epitestosterone and testosterone, but did not believe they were performance-enhancing drugs. He said he believed the “clear” was flaxseed oil and that the “cream” was a balm for arthritis. He said he used the “cream” sparingly.

The New York Times reported last week that federal authorities had detected a steroid other than the “clear” and the “cream” in a urine sample from Bonds. The documents unsealed Wednesday said that testosterone had been detected in Bonds’s 2003 sample, but did not say whether the source was the “cream” or another anabolic steroid.

“You cannot tell from a urine analysis whether a person has used the cream or has been using other sources of testosterone, like gels, patches or injectables,” said Dr. Gary I. Wadler, an antidoping expert and member of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The documents also included a 2006 letter from Commissioner Bud Selig to Bonds notifying him of a first-time positive test for amphetamines, which does not result in a suspension. The test result does not appear to be directly related to the perjury case.

y MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and NATASHA SINGERPublished: July 23, 2009 Two over-the-counter dietary supplements that anti-doping officials say are popular among high school football players contain steroids, according to court papers filed by federal authorities on Thursday.

The supplements, Tren Xtreme and Mass Xtreme, are manufactured by American Cellular Labs and marketed as a “potent legal alternative to” steroids. But authorities alleged in search warrants executed on Thursday that the supplements contain illegal man-made steroids, also known as designer steroids. One of the substances is Madol, which was first identified six years ago during the investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.

The authorities said that Max Muscle, a walk-in supplement store with about 100 locations nation-wide, paid American Cellular Labs to be the exclusive retailer of these products, which could also be purchased on the Internet.

Maurice Sandoval, identified in the court documents as American Cellular’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview that he never personally sold steroids but declined to comment on whether the company had sold steroids. He said he sold the company last year but that a paperwork error kept his name on the company.

Someone who answered the phone Thursday at Max Muscle’s corporate office in Anaheim, Calif., said no one was available to comment on how many Max Muscle stores carried the American Cellular products. “This is not our product,” said the man, who would not give his name and hung up.

On Thursday, the Web site of a Max Muscle outlet in Des Moines was offering a promotion of Tren Xtreme for free, but a salesman who answered the phone there said the store no longer sold the brand.

Travis Tygart, the head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, said the substance helped athletes quickly gain muscle mass and strength.

“This is the supplement of choice for high school football players, and we have heard that from more than one source,” Tygart said. “It’s one of the more popular dietary supplements for these athletes because it works.”

Tygart declined to estimate how many high school athletes had used the product.

The investigation into American Cellular Labs is led by Jeff Novitzky, an agent for the Food and Drug Administration, and prosecutors from the United States attorney’s office for the Northern District of California. Since 2002, Novitzky has become the face of the government’s investigations into the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs.

The F.D.A. did not return calls seeking comment on the investigation.

The search warrants were executed at a Muscle Max store in the Castro section of San Francisco and at Sandoval’s residence in Pacifica, Calif. Another search warrant was executed on the office of WVM Global Incorporated, in Lake Forest, Calif., which authorities believe is an associated business to American Cellular.

The F.D.A. has jurisdiction over dietary supplements, defined as products that can offer general health benefits but cannot claim to treat specific diseases or symptoms.

Manufacturers of dietary supplements are responsible for ensuring and documenting the safety and efficacy claims of their products. According to the law governing dietary supplements, the F.D.A. is empowered to act only in cases when it identifies a harmful or adulterated product that is already on sale.

But if federal authorities find a supplement to contain an undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredient like a steroid, the agency considers the product to be an illegal, unapproved drug.

Illegal steroids are of particular concern in preteen and teenage boys, doctors said, because artificially high levels of testosterone can stop their bones from growing.

Steroids are organic compounds, like hormones, naturally produced by the body. They are also used as legal drugs to treat conditions like testosterone deficiency. Athletes have also used illegal forms of steroids for performance enhancement.

Investigators grew concerned over sports products made by American Cellular Labs after the F.D.A. received reports of severe liver and kidney problems in people who had used the two products, according to court documents.

In one case, a liver transplant doctor reported that a 38-year-old male patient who had used these products was later hospitalized with severe liver dysfunction and acute kidney failure which needed to be treated with dialysis, the documents said.

Legal steroid drugs come with health risks. But unknowingly taking supplements that contain illegal compounded steroids is even riskier because such drugs entail unknown risks, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an instructor at the Harvard Medical School who is studying the dangers of adulterated dietary supplements.

For example, when doctors prescribe testosterone for men who have a testosterone deficiency, physicians monitor the patients closely because such steroids can lead to higher-than-normal hormone levels, potentially putting patients at risk for prostate cancer.

But taking designer steroids in a sports supplement is even more dangerous for people, he said, because these compounds have not been studied for safety.

“It’s placing the consumer at very serious risk of harm because there is absolutely no research showing that this new compound is safe in humans,” said Cohen, a general internist at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a network of public hospitals in Massachusetts. “We do have evidence that, in the past, analogs of pharmaceutical compounds have led to unexpected life-threatening disease such as liver failure that required transplantation.”

y MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and NATASHA SINGERPublished: July 23, 2009 Two over-the-counter dietary supplements that anti-doping officials say are popular among high school football players contain steroids, according to court papers filed by federal authorities on Thursday.

That's really sad, potentially prematurely slowing/altering their own natural hormone production, as well as closing growth plates. Perusing a supplement store last week I over heard a number of kids around 15-16yo talking about a variety of prohormones and who was taking what and etc.

FDA WARNING:[Posted 05/01/2009] FDA warned consumers to immediately stop using Hydroxycut products by Iovate Health Sciences, Inc., because they are associated with serious liver injuries. Hydroxycut products are dietary supplements that are marketed for weight-loss, as fat burners, as energy-enhancers, as low carb diet aids, and for water loss under the Iovate and MuscleTech brand names. FDA has received 23 reports of serious health problems among Hydroxycut users, ranging from jaundice and elevated liver enzymes, an indicator of potential liver injury, to liver damage requiring liver transplants. One death due to liver failure has been reported to FDA. Other health problems reported include seizures; cardiovascular disorders; and rhabdomyolysis, a type of muscle damage that can lead to other serious health problems such as kidney failure. The agency has not yet determined which ingredients, dosages, or other health-related factors may be associated with risks related to these Hydroxycut products. FDA continues to investigate the potential relationship between Hydroxycut dietary supplements and liver injury or other potentially serious side effects.

Iovate Health Sciences of Oakville, Ontario, Canada is the manufacturer. It has agreed to recall all Hydroxycut products. The company reports that more than 9 million units of Hydroxycut products were sold in 2008 in health food stores, grocery stores and pharmacies.

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Answer is, of course he is. When I witness first hand how an ENTIRE industry can be corrupt (music) than it comes no surprise to me the same would go for sports athletes. As always it is all about the money and for these people many of whom are self indulgent narcissists also the fame. They have no problem cheating, lying stealing. Whatever it takes. Like his ex girlfriend Sheryl Crow who claims writing songs stolen from Katherine (no she doesn't do the stealing - she just buys them from the people who do) I am totally convince this guy is a liar. That said now what? The answer. Nothing. Just like the music industry which will go on as it always has.

***Lance Armstrong Retorts Angrily At New Doping Allegations

Lance Armstrong - Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong was in no mood to answer questions on new doping allegations.According to Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated came out with new doping allegations against seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.The following day, Lance Armstrong was bombarded by reporters.Reportedly, Armstrong first said, "I have nothing to say."Pressed, he repeated, "Like I said, I have nothing to say. I perused it...there's nothing there."When questioned again, Armstrong retaliated:"Dude, are you that stupid? What part of 'I'm not commenting' is not clear to you?"

Answer is, of course he is. When I witness first hand how an ENTIRE industry can be corrupt (music) than it comes no surprise to me the same would go for sports athletes. As always it is all about the money and for these people many of whom are self indulgent narcissists also the fame. They have no problem cheating, lying stealing. Whatever it takes. Like his ex girlfriend Sheryl Crow who claims writing songs stolen from Katherine (no she doesn't do the stealing - she just buys them from the people who do) I am totally convince this guy is a liar. That said now what? The answer. Nothing. Just like the music industry which will go on as it always has.

***Lance Armstrong Retorts Angrily At New Doping Allegations

Lance Armstrong - Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong was in no mood to answer questions on new doping allegations.According to Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated came out with new doping allegations against seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.The following day, Lance Armstrong was bombarded by reporters.Reportedly, Armstrong first said, "I have nothing to say."Pressed, he repeated, "Like I said, I have nothing to say. I perused it...there's nothing there."When questioned again, Armstrong retaliated:"Dude, are you that stupid? What part of 'I'm not commenting' is not clear to you?"

Kimberly Bell — who was Barry Bonds’s girlfriend for nine years, spanning his two marriages — walked into the courtroom on Monday to testify at his perjury trial, and nearly everyone there turned to gawk at her.

Kimberly Bell gave graphic and sometimes tearful testimony in United States District Court about the changes she noticed in Bonds during their nine-year relationship.

Everyone except Bonds. As Bell took the witness stand, Bonds’s eyes were fixed on the defense table in Courtroom 10 of the Phillip Burton Federal Building. He knew what was coming. For more than a decade, baseball and its fans have had to confront certain aspects of the sport’s steroids scandal: the unfair advantage gained by players who were using the drugs; the skepticism that baseball’s drug-testing policy was meaningfully set up to catch anyone; the tainted careers that have left likely Hall of Famers consigned to ignominy instead.

But on Monday, the public was introduced to what prosecutors insist is another side of the scandal: the physical toll of taking steroids, in effect what the athletes who used them were willing to do to their own bodies in pursuit of an advantage, real or imagined.

It was not pretty.

“He developed acne on his upper shoulders and back; his hair was falling out quickly, and he ended shaving it all off,” Bell testified of Bonds as the jury sat to her left, rapt. Then her voice grew so faint it was barely audible. “He changed sexually, in his testicles and performance and that.”

Between deep breaths and under unsparing questioning, Bell further testified: “The shape, size of his testicles were smaller, unusual, differently shaped.” Of Bonds, baseball’s official home run king, she testified that he had to resort to using “something” to resolve his trouble maintaining an erection.

For nearly six hours, Bell gave graphic and sometimes tearful testimony in United States District Court about the changes she noticed in Bonds, including a bloated face and belly. Prosecutors said all of it — the changed appearance and behavioral qualities — were documented symptoms of steroid use and thus evidence that Bonds had used them during his career, then lied about that fact under oath when questioned before a grand jury in 2003.

Bonds’s lawyers, in their cross-examination, tried to paint Bell as a vindictive, attention-craving gold-digger who was upset about their breakup. She posed in Playboy for money, was writing a book about her relationship with Bonds and gave at least 20 radio interviews about the subject, the defense pointed out.

Those attempts, to be sure, were aimed at blunting the power of her often explicit firsthand testimony.

Bell said she spoke to Bonds once about his possible steroid use, in 1999, but never pressed him about it because he told her it was common in baseball. Besides, she said he told her, he did not inject himself every day, as some bodybuilders do.

“He mentioned that other players do it and that’s how they got ahead,” Bell, who dated Bonds from 1994 to 2003, said. “That’s how they achieved.”

Bell testified that she had a good reason for never bringing up the subject of steroids with him again: she was afraid of him.

During their later years together, she said Bonds grew irritable and verbally abusive — “almost violent.” The government insists that change in his demeanor was brought about by steroid use.

Bell testified that Bonds threatened “to cut my head off and leave me in a ditch” and said that “he would cut out my breast implants because he paid for them.” He also said he was going to burn her house down, she said.

“I didn’t want to make him angry,” Bell said, growing teary. “I didn’t want him to yell at me.”

Their relationship started differently, she said. Bell first met Bonds in the parking lot of the San Francisco Giants’ stadium in the summer of 1994, then chatted with him the next day at a friend’s barbecue. She took a long drive with him in his new Porsche and spent the night with him that night, beginning their long relationship.

Bell said the first she heard of Bonds’s steroid use in 1999, when he talked about an elbow injury he had.

“He said it was because of steroids,” she said, adding that he explained that the muscle and tendons grew faster than the joint, so his elbow simply “blew out.”

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Bell said she soon discovered that those achievements came at a cost. Bonds asked her to help clear up the acne on his back and shoulders, she said. She also remembered him standing in front of a mirror at spring training in 2000 and asking if she thought the bloating and puffiness in his face and belly were noticeable to others.

Yet she stayed with him. At times, he gave her money, in the thousands, and even helped her move to Arizona and put a down payment of $60,000 or maybe $80,000 on a house there shortly after he married his second wife, she said. The defense questioned Bell’s motivation for testifying against Bonds, which she first did before a federal grand jury in 2005. Bell was angry that Bonds told her to “disappear” in early 2003, said Cris Arguedas, one of Bonds’s lawyers.

Arguedas said, “Sell a book that capitalizes on his fame, make a bunch of money, that was one part of your plan, wasn’t it?”

The Giants’ equipment manager, Mike Murphy, also testified Monday and said that Bonds’s cap size changed from 7¼ to 7⅜. That change, prosecutors contend, showed Bonds’s head growth, which they say is evidence of use of human growth hormone.

Murphy, who has worked for the Giants for 54 years, said the cap size of several other Giants players, including Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, also increased, but only after they retired and gained weight.

The defense questioned Murphy for only a few minutes before Bell took the stand — and she remained there for the rest of the day. With her, the questioning was unrelenting.

Arguedas asked about an e-mail Bell sent to Bonds’s Web site after their breakup. Bell wrote about the other girlfriends she said Bonds had in other cities, calling one “the ugly whore in Vegas” and another “the stripper from Phoenix,” Arguedas said.

She asked Bell how Bonds — “the man you testified had some penile dysfunction” — could have so many girlfriends.

“You still weren’t angry?” Arguedas asked.

“Not really, no,” Bell answered.

At day’s end, a prosecutor, Jeffrey Nedrow, asked Bell, “Did you make this up just to get back at the defendant?” Bell answered no.